Bradley heads field of teams still standing for regional
Although the Hilliard Bradley boys basketball team has never advanced this deep in the tournament before, it may well have inherited the role of favorite to emerge from the Division I regional at Ohio Dominican this week.
The Jaguars enter with the best record (25-1) and seed (No. 3) in a field that also includes its opponent, Reynoldsburg (19-7), along with Dublin Coffman (20-6) and Pickerington Central (16-8).
"As you've seen the past few days, the seeds really are meaningless at this point," said Bradley coach Brett Norris, referring to how the Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 seeds lost. "Winning a game in the tournanment is hard enough, but to win four or five is really hard. It's all about who's playing well on that day."
By that reasoning, Pickerington Central — which has won six district titles in seven years and reached the state tournament in 2017 — is extremely dangerous. Despite losing junior point guard Jeremiah Francis to a seasonending knee injury before the season, the Tigers have won nine straight games.
"I thought when we were 7-8 we could turn it around," Central coach Eric Krueger said. "I told them to focus on five things … five team goals. It all kind of snowballed and here we are again."
Coffman coach Jamey Collins is intrigued by the diversity of the region.
"I think this region has four very, very different teams with unique styles," he said. "I don't know if there is a favorite, per se. It is hard not to notice Hilliard Bradley because of their impressive defensive numbers."
Coffman was one of three area teams — along with South and Fairfield Christian — to advance by beating a conference rival (Upper Arlington) it had lost to twice during the regular season. Out of the nine area teams still standing, only three won their conference.
South coach Ramon Spears said his team made some minor adjustments that paid off in a 64-54 win over second-seeded Eastmoor Academy in a Division II district final. The Bulldogs dropped two close City League games to the Warriors.
"We looked at the reasons we lost those games and one was at the end of the game we needed to get the ball in peoples' hands who hit free throws, and the other was to play more solid, straight-up defense and not gamble," Spears said.
The other Division II qualifier, top-seeded Beechcroft (25-1), will head to a regional at Bowling Green that includes the state's only unbeaten team in Wauseon (25-0).
When top-seeded Harvest Prep chose to go to the Division III Athens regional, coach Michael Bates was fine heading to Bowling Green and avoiding the top-ranked Warriors.
"I'm from northwest Ohio originally, and my father (legendary retired Toledo Libbey coach Leroy Bates) still lives up there and goes to games all the time," Bates said. "I'm familiar with basketball up there and it's very good. When you mention OttawaGlandorf and Archbold, those are teams that have been to the state tournament numerous times and have a great reputation around the state."
Incidentally, both Harvest Prep and Africentric were former Division IV rivals, but moved up to Division III this year because of the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s competitive balance formula.
DIVISION IV
Fueled by a 44-5 run, Berlin Hiland rolled past Fairfield Christian in a Division IV regional semifinal Tuesday in Athens. Kobe Troyer had 15 points and eight rebounds for Hiland, which led 20-18 in the second quarter before closing the half on an 11-0 run. Hiland (22-5), which had 31 rebounds and forced 18 turnovers, then outscored Fairfield Christian (12-15) 33-5 in the second half.